soil to be removed, taking sometimes two or three weeks, but generally much less. 

 I have seen an instance where a pair of these birds excavated a new burrow in 

 a rather friable clay bank near Fort Lapwai, Idaho, to a depth of five feet in a 

 little over three days. How they manage to dig so rapidly, considering their 

 short and weak-looking feet, with which they must remove the greater part of 

 the material, has always been a mystery to me, and I would not believe them 

 capable of accomplishing such an amount of work had I not seen it done. When 

 not disturbed, the same nesting site is resorted to from year to year. Sometimes 

 the male burrows an additional hole near the occupied nesting site, usually not 

 over three feet deep, to which he retires to feed and pass the night. 



The number of eggs varies usually from five to eight, and sets of six or 

 seven are most often found. Instances, however, have been recorded where as 

 many as fourteen eggs have been found at one time. If the first set of eggs is 

 taken, the birds abandon the burrow and excavate a second one near by, and 

 frequently within a few feet of the first one, and lay a second set, consisting rarely 

 of more than six eggs. Only a single brood is raised in a season. 



In a newly excavated nest the eggs are usually laid on the bare ground, while 

 in such as have been occupied in previous seasons, the eggs are frequently found 

 deposited on quite a thick layer of fish bones, scales, crawfish shells, etc. 



The Purple Martin {Pogne suUs) 



Length, about 8 inches. 



Range : Breeds throughout the United States and southern Canada, south 

 to central Mexico ; winters in South America. 



Habits and economic status : This is the largest as it is one of the most 

 beautiful of the swallow tribe. It formerly built its nests in cavities of trees, as 

 it still does in wild districts, but learning that man was a friend it soon adopted 

 domestic habits. Its presence about the farm can often be secured by erecting 

 houses suitable for nesting sites and protecting them from usurpation by the 

 English sparrow, and every effort should be made to increase the number of 

 colonies of this very useful bird. The boxes should be at a reasonable height, 

 say 15 feet from the ground, and made inaccessible to cats. A colony of these 

 birds on a farm makes great inroads upon the insect population, as the birds 

 not only themselves feed upon insects but rear their young upon the same diet. 

 Fifty years ago in New England it was not uncommon to see colonies of 50 

 pairs of martins, but most of them have now vanished for no apparent reason 

 except that the martin houses have decayed and have not been renewed. More 

 than three-fourths of this bird's food consists of wasps, bugs, and beetles, their 

 importance being in the order given. The beetles include several species of harm- 

 ful weevils, as the clover-leaf weevils and the nut weevils. Besides these are 

 many crane flies, moths, May flies, and dragonflies. 



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